Bobbito Garcia on CNN’s Latino in America

Full disclosure: Bobbito Garcia is a dear friend and over the years, a confidant. Bobbito is dynamic, funny, talented and definitely proud to represent for Latinos everywhere. He’s an outstanding human being.

What I don’t understanding so clearly is what informed Soledad O’Brien, in this preview leading up to her Latino in America special, to state that Latinos “borrow” from African-American culture by playing basketball and expressing themselves vis-à-vis hip-hop culture. Hip-hop was created by young people of color and a few white people, too. Some of the earliest pioneers of graffiti are from different social, economic and ethnic backgrounds, including Puerto Ricans and Dominicans: so was breakdancing; dee-jaying; emceeing; and the list goes on. I don’t know enough about basketball’s historical roots to comment.

More importantly, African-American and Puerto-Ricans/Dominicans/Cubans, etc. are more similar than we think, as we share a similar history an relationship with slavery.

I really look forward to tomorrow night’s premiere of Latino in America. It airs on Oct. 21st & 22nd at 9PM ETA. I’ll be watching with eyes wide open. It’s positive that someone is paying attention and open to set the discussion off about how we ebb and flow in today’s society.

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